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Subject: U.S. Government, Social Studies
Grade Level: 9-12
Introduction for Teachers
This WebQuest was developed by The Dirksen Congressional Center
to introduce students to the concept of "influence" or "power" in
Congress. What experiences or responsibilities distinguish more
influential Congress members from less?
The lesson asks students, as teams, to take on the role of investigative
reporters to identify and research their U.S. Representative
or one of their two U.S. Senators. The lesson also suggests a
set of factors (the Congressional Power Index) that helps determine
what makes someone influential in Congress and invites students
to measure their Congress members against those factors and to
develop more factors.
For information about WebQuests, visit http://webquest.sdsu.edu/materials.htm and http://home.earthlink.net/~cfairey/VSTE/home.html
The Task for Learners
Congratulations! You and your partners have been selected to
write a feature article for your local newspaper about either
your Congressman and one of your two U.S. Senators. Your editor
wants to know how much power they have in Congress. Their influence
will help determine their role in making policy and in bringing
federal money to your state and district.
You have the following tasks ahead of you:
- Finding out who your Congressman and U.S. Senators are
- Identifying high-quality Internet sites with information
about them
- Researching their biographies
- Discovering what responsibilities they have in Congress
- Refining a model to evaluate a Congress member's power
The Process
1. Arrange for you and your partners on the reporting team to
have Internet access. Visit CongressLink (http://www.congresslink.org)
and find the Congressional Information Center.
2. Using links at the Congressional Information Center, find
out who your Congressman and two U.S. Senators are. Write down
their contact information. Visit their Web sites.
3. Select one for the rest of this assignment and write a story
for your newspaper introducing her or him to your readers.
4. Using the table below, which lists some
of the factors that determine who is influential in Congress,
compile that information from Web sites for the Congress member
you selected.
5. Write an editorial for your newspaper evaluating how influential
the member of Congress you selected is.
6. Prepare a list of useful Web sites to share with your class.
7. As a team, decide if there are other factors besides those
listed in the table below that help determine a Congress member's
influence. OPTIONAL: E-mail these ideas to the author of this
WebQuest at fmackaman@dirksencenter.org
The Resources
CongressLink (http://www.congresslink.org).
CongressLink has the Congressional Information Center which provides
links to every Congress member's office and Web site, information
about leaders in Congress, and committee assignments and charters.
AboutGovernment (http://www.aboutgovernment.org).
This site provides links to more than 250 Web sites about the
federal government, including a great manyabout the U.S. Congress.
Teachers may want to limit the number or pre-select the most
useful ones.
Federal Election Commission site (http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/srssea.html)
where you can search for the status of a Congress member's campaign
fund.
Barone, Michael and Richard E. Cohen, The Almanac of American
Politics 2002 (Washington, DC: National Journal, 2001)
Hawkings, David and Nutting, Brian, eds., CQ's Politics in
American 2004: The 108th Congress (Washington, DC: Congressional
Quarterly Inc., 2003). This reference is the best place to
obtain presidential and party support scores. Unfortunately,
there are apparently no Web-based resources for this information
that do not require a paid subscription.
NOTE: The table, "The Congressional Power Index," follows.
The Congressional Power Index
HOW TO USE THIS TABLE: To get a rough approximation of a Congress
member's influence, use the table below to compile a rating.
The higher the number, the more influential the member. You may
not be able to determine the measurement factor in all cases,
but the index can be useful even if only partially completed.
FACTOR |
INDEX |
1. Is of the majority party
in the chamber.
If "yes," rates a 3. If member is of the minority
party, rates a -3. If Independent, score a 0. |
-3 0 3 |
2. Holds formal elected party
leadership post in the House or Senate.
Speaker of the House and Majority Leader of the
Senate = 5
Minority Leader, Assistant Majority Leader = 4
Majority Whip, Assistant Minority Leader, Minorty
Whip = 3
Assistant Whips, Republican or Democratic Conference
Chair = 2
Rep./Dem. Conference Secretary, Rep/Dem Policy Chair
= 1 |
0 1 2 3 4 5 |
3. Chairs (or is ranking
member of) a "money" committee.
Committee chair rates a 5, ranking member a 3. House "money" committees:
Appropriations, Budget, and Ways and Means
Senate "money" committees: Appropriations and Finance |
0 3 5 |
4. Chairs (or is ranking
member of) another committee.
Chair rates a 4, ranking member a 2. |
0 2 4 |
5. Chairs (or is ranking
member) a subcommittee.
Chair rates a 3, ranking member a 1. |
0 1 3 |
6. Is a member of one of
the following committees (rates a 3 for each)
House: Appropriations, Armed Services, Energy and
Commerce, Rules, or Ways and Means
Senate: Appropriations, Armed Services, Budget, Finance,
Judiciary |
0 3 |
7. Seniority.
0-2 terms rates a 0, then in two-term increments
up the scale, that is 4 terms rates a 1, six terms
rates a 2, etc. |
0 1 2 3 4 5 |
8. Margin of victory in last
election.
Greater than 60 percent is highest rank at 3
59-60 rates a 2
56-58 rates a 1
53-55 rates a 0
50-52 rates a -1
less than 50 percent rates a -2 |
-2 -1 0 1 2 3 |
9. Amount of campaign funds
on hand.
Amounts depend on individual situation, such as
competitiveness of the district. Lacking such information,
less than $100,000 = -5
$100,000 - $199,999 = -4
$200,000 - $299,999 rates -3
$300,00 - $399,999 rates -2
$400,000 - $499,999 rates -1
$500,000 - $599,999 rates 0
$600,000 - $699,999 rates 1
$700,000 - $799,999 rates 2
$800,000 - $899,999 rates 3
$900,000 - $999,999 rates 4
$1,000,000 and over rates 5 |
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
4 5 |
10. Exposure in national
press.
Washington Post Onlines Search for one week
(1 point for every 4 hits with 5 points the maximum)
or
New York Times Online Search for one month (1 point
for every 4 hits with 5 points the maximum) or
CNN.com search (cnn.com only) (1 point for every
30 hits with 5 points the maximum). |
0 1 2 3 4 5 |
11. Party Support (Voting
Record) OPTIONAL: It may not be possible to locate this
information online. Congressional Quarterly, a subscription
service, publishes such information periodically.
If this member voted with her/his political party
95% of the time or more = 5
90-94 = 4
85-89 = 3
80-84 = 2
75-79 = 1
70-74 = 0
65-69 = -1
60-64 = -2
55-59 = -3
50-54 = -4
49% and below = -5 |
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
4 5 |
12. Support of the President
OPTIONAL: It may not be possible to locate this information
online. Congressional Quarterly, a subscription service,
publishes such information periodically.
If this member is of the SAME party as the President
and voted with the President's position 95% of the
time or more = 5
90-94 = 4
85-89 = 3
80-84 = 2
75-79 = 1
70-74 = 0
65-69 = -1
60-64 = -2
55-59 = -3
50-54 = -4
49% and below = -5
IF this member is of the OPPOSITE party, reverse the
scoring |
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
4 5 |
Extra Credit
1. How might you measure the quality of a Congress member's
constitutent service? Does high quality service give a member
more power or influence?
2. What other ways exist to measure a member's influence on
legislation, in addition to committee service and leadership
position?
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